March 21, 2005

Hammesfahr: Terri could be fed orally if it were allowed

"The important thing for people to understand is that
she can eat and swallow right now," said William Hammesfahr, a
neurologist who has examined Schiavo. He is in many of the videos
circulated through the news media showing that Schiavo is at times
responsive and aware.

"They are truly withholding food from a person who is awake, alert,
and can eat and swallow," Hammesfahr said. After spending at least 10
hours with Schiavo several years ago, he told Florida Judge George W.
Greer that she can improve with therapy.

Hammesfahr said his credibility had been questioned at the time, but
he has since been vindicated in court and currently maintains a
thriving private practice in Clearwater, Fla. Despite reports attacking
him, he said he has never lost his license to practice medicine and
currently is involved in litigation surrounding the ordeal.

Hammesfahr was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Medicine and
Physiology in 1999 for his work in brain injury and stroke. He is a
recognized expert in treating neurological disorders, having
successfully treated thousands of patients using vasodilator therapy,
which increases blood flow to the brain, thus healing conditions
previously thought to be untreatable.

Standing with a handful of supporters outside of the hospice late in
the evening Mar. 19, Hammesfahr told the Witness Schiavo previously has
swallowed pudding and daily swallows almost two liters of water by
virtue of being able to process her own saliva and sinus drainage.

"That's liquid and that's the most difficult thing to swallow,"
Hammesfahr said of her saliva. "If she can swallow that she can swallow
food or pudding."

Hammesfahr said there are at least 50 physicians he knows of, in
private practice and related to medical universities who have said
Schiavo is not in a PVS or in a coma

"The danger for Schiavo is that if she is in a coma, she
will not have the type of monitoring that could help her recover if the
feeding tube is reinserted.

"Putting a person in coma is very dangerous," Hammesfahr said, and
after 7-8 days she might end up in an irreversible coma or with further
brain damage.

Angel Watson, a Pinellas Park, Fla., resident who works with the
Caring and Sharing Center for Independent Living, said she once was
considered to be in a PVS, after a skiing accident left her paralyzed,
but that she made remarkable improvements because of her strong will to
live.

Referring to the two other times Schiavo's feeding tube was removed
and surgically re-inserted, Watson said it is wrong to treat Terri as
if she would not want to live.

Watson questions Michael Schiavo's insistence that he loves his wife
and cares deeply for her. Michael Schiavo, Watson said, has had ample
proof that his wife wants to live.

"She's the embodiment of a living will," Watson said. "She
is a living will. He's tried to kill her twice and she has the will to
live.

Watson questions Michael Schiavo’s insistence that he loves his wife and cares deeply for her. Michael Schiavo, Watson said, has had ample proof that his wife wants to live.

"She’s the embodiment of a living will,” Watson said. "She is a living will. He’s tried to kill her twice and she has the will to live.

"What more [evidence] could you possibly want?"
--30--

He has not tried to kill Terri 2 times ..he tired 3 times !.., including the night of
Feb 25, 1990. Terri is an one incredible survivor....no wonder he said,"when is the bitch going to die?" He must be real spooked by her tenacity by now..if you include the suspectd insulin injections too, Terri has fought him back by living over 5 times! Incredible.

The truth will be not be hidden forever. The Almighty already knows...and so does Terri.

Posted by: JoEllen Marley at March 21, 2005 11:43 PM

Let's get these guys out there on the web and let's
get them some airtime and exposure!!!! This might
make things happen quicker for Terri.

Posted by: texanista at March 21, 2005 11:44 PM

There is no way that Dr. Hammesfahr knows if he was nominated for the Nobel Prize in 1999--all of that info for Medicine and Physiology is kept in confidence for 50 years. Check out: nobelprize.org/medicine/nomination/database.html.

Did that info come out in court or something? I'm just wondering how anyone (except I guess whomever nominated him) knows he was nominated.

I am wondering why Michael Schiavo has said he was planning on divorcing Terri, but then decided to stay married to her. That is so strange how he had changed his mind and now is trying to murder Terri by dehydration and starvation. If anyone in their right mind is for the removal of the feeding tube that was keeping Terri Schiavo alive, they should be ashamed of themselves. Terri is a human being and is still alive. I am sure that if Micheal Schiavo would be in this state, that he wouldn't want that to happen to him. That is killing a innocent human being who has commited no crime or done absolutely nothing wrong at all. If the government is so strict on making sure animals aren't starving or dehydrating, then how could they even begin to think about starving and dehydrating a human. By these facts, I hope that more people begin to realize the removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is wrong and that it isn't to late by then. God Bless Terri, her family, and all the supporters of reinserting Terri Schiavo's feeding tube. Keep praying for Terri and her family. God Bless you all.

Posted by: Jody at March 22, 2005 12:53 AM

Thanks for your important work. I hope you will take up the monstrous Texas Futile Care Law, which permits the killing of even conscious patients who have terminal diseases. Little Sun Hudson died on March 15, executed for the crimes of being born poor and with a congenital defect. See http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/metropolitan/3084934